nic's recent activity
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
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Comment on Amazon’s promotion of ‘Melania’ has critics questioning its motives (Amazon has spent 35M on marketing on top of its 40M budget) in ~movies
nic LinkMy favorite movie review, like ever, is from letterboxd...My favorite movie review, like ever, is from letterboxd...
If they showed this on a plane, people would still walk out.
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Comment on Matt Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the 'plot three or four times in the dialogue' because viewers are on 'their phones while they're watching' in ~movies
nic Link ParentNetflix is like any other studio now, it has some great shows (Wednesday, Squid Games, KPOP) among a lot of crap.Netflix is like any other studio now, it has some great shows (Wednesday, Squid Games, KPOP) among a lot of crap.
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Comment on Matt Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the 'plot three or four times in the dialogue' because viewers are on 'their phones while they're watching' in ~movies
nic LinkMatt Damon appears to be talking about his recent (and only?) direct experience with Netflix, in making The Rip. Honestly, while Rotten Tomatoes seems to disagree with me, it's frankly not their...Matt Damon appears to be talking about his recent (and only?) direct experience with Netflix, in making The Rip.
Honestly, while Rotten Tomatoes seems to disagree with me, it's frankly not their best work.
I get they are trying to put the blame on Netflix, but as they point out, Netflix has made some great shows.
I wonder if they felt pressured to cave to producer demands because Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Got Netflix to Give ‘The Rip’ Crew Performance Bonuses
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
nic Link ParentMinnesota Proved MAGA Wrong (Archive.is)Perhaps the Trump-administration officials had hoped that a few rabble-rousers would get violent, justifying the kind of crackdown he seems to fantasize about.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society
nic Link ParentMinnesota has barely 2% of the USA population (6m out of 340m.) 10-15% of all USA ICE agents are located in Minnesota (2-3k out of 22k.) I know ICE is surging everywhere, but Minnesota is on a...Minnesota has barely 2% of the USA population (6m out of 340m.)
10-15% of all USA ICE agents are located in Minnesota (2-3k out of 22k.)
I know ICE is surging everywhere, but Minnesota is on a whole another level.
None of the reasons given make any sense. Fraud? Sanctuary cities? Lack of visibility into voter records? That is true for most cities. It seems pure capricious vindictiveness targeted at Walz.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 19 in ~society
nic LinkYes, It’s Fascism Archive.is I love this article, even though I completely disagree with the premise and utterly hate conclusion. I don't think it's fascism yet, but it's quickly heading towards...I love this article, even though I completely disagree with the premise and utterly hate conclusion.
I don't think it's fascism yet, but it's quickly heading towards fascism, and simply saying "no, America will be fine" is no longer enough.
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Comment on Actual underrated films of the 2020s so far in ~movies
nic LinkA Minecraft Movie, Where the Crawdads Sing.... they got awards, but mostly just for songs. Does that count? La-la-la-lava, ch-ch-ch-chicken Steve's Lava Chicken, yeah, it's tasty as hell Ooh,...A Minecraft Movie, Where the Crawdads Sing.... they got awards, but mostly just for songs. Does that count?
La-la-la-lava, ch-ch-ch-chicken
Steve's Lava Chicken, yeah, it's tasty as hell
Ooh, mamacita, now you're ringin' the bell
Crispy and juicy, now you're havin' a snack
Ooh, super spicy, it's a lava attack -
Comment on We are witnessing the self-immolation of a superpower in ~society
nic (edited )Link ParentI don't think it is any coincidence that this is happening relatively shortly after the creation of twitter and other social media. Most people believe what they read. News used to be a high...I don't think it is any coincidence that this is happening relatively shortly after the creation of twitter and other social media.
Most people believe what they read. News used to be a high effort and high quality affair. Newspapers. Radio. TV.
I remember when my father would sit down after work, and dedicate half an hour to reading the newspaper, and another half an hour to watching the news on TV.
My wife, who will dive into long form anything, often barely reads more than the headlines, because there are too many articles to read.
Fox news came along, and effectively weaponized the headline. They A/B test headlines for maximum engagement, to the point where the article rarely has anything to do with the most inflamatory headlines.
Twitter came along, and effectively said forget the details, all you need is the headline.
The headlines are doing our thinking for us, and are often encouraging us not to think by enraging us instead.
I think Trump was successfully elected because he tapped into that rage baiting, one tweet at a time.
The monied elites used to be able to heavily influence who was elected. Which mostly seemed to work.
I remember when Trump was first elected, Murdoch tried to go against Trump, and lost viewers for being "too liberal."
All the other candidates in the Republican primary tried to take Trump down, only to kiss the ring or ultimately quit politics.
I remember when Trump was first running, a small, vocal minority said "Trump will burn it down? Let it burn!"
Most seemed to say "God can use even flawed individuals to achieve His will."
It's no surprise to me that Trump controls congress. It's no surprise to me that the elites are manipulating him rather than standing up to him.
Trump directs the anger of his substantial set of followers, and he could very well continue to do so even if he is not president.
The Democrats were afraid to go after him for this reason.
What surprised me, is that the Supreme Court has effectively anointed Trump king.
Are they true believers? Do they see him as a useful idiot? Are they bought off? Are they afraid of the death threats?
Edit:
I suspect they are simply motivated by institutional self preservation. If they piss off the Republicans, it will be the end of their power play.
What wont surprise me, is how the Supreme Court will contort themselves to take the golden crown and scepter away from any Democrat.
They may have mixed feelings about Trump, but they have Ideological hatred of any Democrat.
This supreme court is the most ideologically sorted in history. This means the justices’ votes align more closely with the ideology of the appointing president and party, than ever in history.
Which is the second reason why this is happening now, and was less likely to happen any time in history.
I suspect we also have a third reason, and that is Trump himself.
He is not only good at getting people to hate, he has successfully collapsed all the historical norms.
He is encouraging us to be the worst version of ourselves.
He has run a blitz kreig on democratic institutions that are slow to react.
It turns out, no one cares to enforce the norms (telling the truth, not being credibly accused of theft, corruption, rape.)
It turns out, all those norms that we thought were enforceable, either are not, or aren't enforceable at speed, or that people are simply too afraid of going after a known bully, with the most powerful bully pulpit in the world.
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Comment on We are witnessing the self-immolation of a superpower in ~society
nic Link ParentHow do you see the billionaire tax backfiring? Do you see it backfiring if it were implemented nationally within the entire USA?How do you see the billionaire tax backfiring?
Do you see it backfiring if it were implemented nationally within the entire USA?
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
nic Link'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humansEvery year, doctors at a hospital in the Yunnan Province of China brace themselves for an influx of people with an unusual complaint. The patients come with a strikingly odd symptom: visions of pint-sized, elf-like figures – marching under doors, crawling up walls and clinging to furniture.
The hospital treats hundreds of these cases every year. All share a common culprit: Lanmaoa asiatica, a type of mushroom that forms symbiotic relationships with pine trees in nearby forests and is a locally popular food, known for its savory, umami-packed flavor. In Yunnan, L. asiatica is sold in markets, it appears on restaurant menus and is served at home during peak mushroom season between June and August.
One must be careful to cook it thoroughly, though, otherwise the hallucinations will set in.
"At a mushroom hot pot restaurant there, the server set a timer for 15 minutes and warned us, 'Don't eat it until the timer goes off or you might see little people,'" says Colin Domnauer, a doctoral candidate in biology at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah, who is studying L. asiatica. "It seems like very common knowledge in the culture there."
He and his team are still trying to identify the chemical compound responsible for the hallucinations in L. asiatica. Current tests suggest it is not likely related to any other known psychedelic compound. For one, the trips it produces are unusually long, commonly lasting 12 to 24 hours, and in some cases even causing hospital stays of up to a week. Because of the extraordinarily long duration of these trips and the chance for prolonged side effects such as delirium and dizziness, Domanuer has yet to try the raw mushrooms himself.
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We are witnessing the self-immolation of a superpower
This interesting article provoked a lot of thought... We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower .... archive.is link You want to destroy the Western rules-based order that has...
This interesting article provoked a lot of thought...
We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower .... archive.is link
You want to destroy the Western rules-based order that has preserved peace and security for 80 years, which allowed the US to triumph as an economic superpower and beacon of hope and innovation for the world. What exactly would you do differently with your marionette other than enact the ever more reckless agenda that Donald Trump has pursued since he became president last year?
Nothing.
For the 80 years since the end of World War II, the US model of innovation, trade, and economic hegemony has been built on a foundation of six seemingly inviolable traditions and policies held steady across both Republican and Democratic administrations:
(1) easy access of immigrants to the US, particularly its unparalleled world-class schools and universities;
(2) rich and steady government support of higher education, medical research, and laboratories;
(3) broad and ever-more-frictionless trade access to US markets and, reciprocally, a flow of US products to the rest of the world;
(4) a firm, unyielding, and unquestionable adherence to the rule of law at home that made the US a predictable and safe place to create, build, and do business at home; and
(5) a similarly firm, unyielding, and unquestionable network of geopolitical alliances abroad that knitted together a security blanket that stretched around the entire globe, backed up by the most powerful and widest-ranging military ever seen in human history.
All five of those pillars helped firm up and underpin another equally critical pillar:
(6) a politically independent and fiscally prudent monetary policy that established the US dollar as the world’s safest reserve currency.
This made US Treasury bonds the savings bank for the entire world—for democracies and authoritarian regimes alike!—and made US banking networks and capital markets the place to be for any company looking for access to investors.
This last point is particularly interesting. Janet Yellen warns the $38 trillion national debt is testing a red line economists have feared for decades
I can't imagine a better way to create a sovereign debt crisis than Trumps policy of politicizing the Fed Reserve, sudden tariff flip flops, coercing partners, making then breaking agreements, pushing deficits to new highs, committing to unfunded tax cuts, weakening anti-inflation institutions, reducing transparency by pushing crypto, weaponizing sanctions and creating policy chaos.
Sovereign debt crises aren't a problem until they suddenly are, then all of a sudden you are in a world of hurt.
Yet most of Donald Trump supporters don't seem to care about any of this, the tea party protestors now only seem to care about hating anyone who doesn't look, act or think like them.
Once trust in institutions, alliances, and monetary independence is lost, rebuilding them takes decades and often requires crisis to force alignment. If history is any guide, that crisis wont be pretty, and might cause America to dive deeper into Authoritarianism.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 19 in ~society
nic Link ParentRead the Texts Between Trump and Norway’s Prime Minister About Greenland The most reliable reporting I can find indicates this was a text message, not a formal letter.Read the Texts Between Trump and Norway’s Prime Minister About Greenland
The most reliable reporting I can find indicates this was a text message, not a formal letter.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 12 in ~society
nic LinkTrump Wants Nations to Pay $1 Billion to Stay on His Peace Board I wonder how many slush funds Trump has that we are unaware of.Trump Wants Nations to Pay $1 Billion to Stay on His Peace Board
The draft appears to suggest Trump himself would control the money, something that would be considered unacceptable to most countries who could have potentially joined the board, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
I wonder how many slush funds Trump has that we are unaware of.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 12 in ~society
nic Link ParentTrump Hands First Sale of Swiped Oil to His Megadonor’s CompanyTrump Hands First Sale of Swiped Oil to His Megadonor’s Company
John Addison poured millions into political action committees backing Donald Trump’s re-election.
The initial deal, worth about $250 million, went to Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 12 in ~society
nic LinkUS gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar Trump just set up a slush fund that he directly controls.US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding some proceeds in Qatar
“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the party’s top Banking Committee member, told Semafor last week. “That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”
Trump just set up a slush fund that he directly controls.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
nic Link ParentWhen I first moved to USA, I didn't feel like cooking just for myself. So I lived off microwaveable meals from Safeway. I made friends. Started dating a girl. For something like a year my...When I first moved to USA, I didn't feel like cooking just for myself. So I lived off microwaveable meals from Safeway. I made friends. Started dating a girl. For something like a year my girlfriend never once thought to tell me about Trader Joe's, and their delicious microwavable meals. She just assumed I knew about it. We split up, and it is now decades later, but I still am irrationally resentful about that.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 12 in ~society
nic Link ParentIt also likely increases the pool of incredibly talented and experienced defense attorneys.It also likely increases the pool of incredibly talented and experienced defense attorneys.
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Comment on Why the renovation of US Federal Reserve headquarters costs $2.5 billion in ~finance
nic LinkThe way Trumps mind works is so interesting. $2B costs means Powell must be skimming off the top. I wonder what Trump has been skimming off the top of...The way Trumps mind works is so interesting.
$2B costs means Powell must be skimming off the top.
I wonder what Trump has been skimming off the top of...
‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company